1913: New Orleans drainage system is a marvel of the world

Two decades of debate and construction built a drainage system that was a marvel of the world. Near the end of the 19th century, the public was outraged at reeking, muddy streets. And the city couldn't grow to the lake side of the Metairie/Gentilly ridges or into Broadmoor without real drainage.

Get more

Progressive Era zeal also built the sewerage and water systems, but it was the drainage system that solved the unique problem of New Orleans as a city beneath the sea.

The first steps? The Dublin Avenue drainage "machine," a coal-fired, steam-operated paddlewheel device that served as an early attempt at mechanical drainage. In the 1870s, an abortive attempt at a better system resulted in the London, Orleans and Metairie Relief (now 17th Street) canals being dug.

A plan adopted in 1895, and expanded in 1910, set the basic pattern of the system today. The city was surrounded by levees. Settling an intense argument, pump stations were to be built just north of Metairie Ridge rather than at the lakefront. To keep Lake Pontchartrain clean, routine flow would be pumped to Bayou Bienvenue. Water from bigger storms would be diverted to the lake.

In 1898, the cornerstone was laid at the central power station. It is still in use as Pump Station D on Florida Boulevard, but power is produced at the main Sewerage & Water Board plant on Claiborne Avenue.

Albert Baldwin Wood was a young engineer who was working on the drainage plan when in 1913 he devised a screw pump that would vastly increase capacity. It was retro-fitted into the pump stations already built. Wood sold the pump around the world and ran the Sewerage & Water Board for decades.

While the outline of the system was finished by 1915, work continues to this day to increase the system’s capacity and strengthen it against hurricanes.